It may be a dog-eat-dog world out there, but for the pets of TAMA of the 3rd District -Have You Seen My TAMA, the rivalry between cats and dogs is all but forgotten. Inspired by a real missing cat poster stating "Have you seen my Tama?" the Tama and Friends franchise by Sony has been going strong since 1983 with multiple anime, manga and merchandise. It's easy to see why -- the cute, lovable characters are timeless and adorably precious.
With the 1994 animated series, TAMA of the 3rd District now streaming on Crunchyroll, the forecast calls for it to rain cute cats and dogs. Split into two segments, each 23-minute episode takes the viewer on an adventure along with the pets of the 3rd district as they play in the park, hunt down missing items and interpret the world through their limited animal perspectives. While the show focuses much more on the cats than the dogs, it's sure to tickle the fancy of any animal lover.
This limited perspective leads to lots of laughs as the characters try to discern the purpose of a bathhouse, or run around lost at school. While they seem able to understand their humans verbally, they most certainly don't understand human technology, holidays or practices. This often leads them to find themselves way in over their heads as they try to fight Koi windsocks or climb to the top of the bathhouse's smokestack to ask the clouds to form shapes for them.
The cats and dogs of the 3rd district are adventuresome and brave, allowing viewers to forget their own troubles as they watch these wonderful animals try their hardest to solve the problem that is immediately before them. All of them know that they have warm homes and food with loving humans to go home to. That knowledge of safety lends the show a lot of its charm, as well as giving it a chance to put the characters into some really entertaining situations.
So far, Crunchyroll currently only has six episodes of the show out, but there is more Tama-content on the platform: earlier this year, a spin-off series called Uchitama?! Have you seen my Tama? aired, featuring the cats and dogs of the 3rd district as you've never seen them before -- as cat-and-dog-boys.
Uchitama?! melds the original cute animals with beautiful human hybrid designs, and makes stellar use of them to showcase perspective. Throughout the series, the animals are drawn in their traditionally cute-chibi-animal designs whenever the scene takes place from a human perspective or otherwise needs to show reality. In contrast, whenever the animals are alone and simply interacting, implying that their human-like designs are how they see themselves.
Regardless, both shows are adorably fun, and purr-fect for any cat or dog lover, as well as anime fans curious to try an old favorite from a bygone era. So be sure to visit the 3rd district, and let these cute kittens and puppies take you on an adventurous tour.
